Cloud Data Center XTREME-D Intel® DCM Optimizes Cooling and Uptime with Virtual Console Case Study
Intel® DCM delivers significant savings and efficiency by providing virtual KVM
access, thermal visibility and group policy controls for servers
Business: A Japanese Managed Supercomputer as
a Service startup supporting HPC (High
Performance Computing) and HPDA
(High Performance Data Analytics) for
AI, Deep Learning for researchers and
scientists.
Challenges • Real-time ...server power and thermal data collection
• Real-time health monitoring
• Cooling analysis
• Automated server discovery
• Cross-platform group policy control
• KVM for device management
Solution • Intel® Data Center Manager
Executive Summary
XTREME-D is a Japanese HPC-as-a-service startup based in Tokyo, Japan,
providing high-performance computing (HPC) to support data-intensive research
and scientific organizations running artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning
(DL) applications and large scale simulations. The company deployed Intel® Data
Center Manager (Intel® DCM) to improve the thermal health of its Intel® Data Center
Blocks (Intel® DCB) servers (Intel 1U, 2U, and 2U multi-node devices connected
OmniPath) and data center environment. It further sought to reduce downtime by
decreasing the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) for server failures. Finally, it sought
to leverage remote access controls and execute group management to reduce
man-hours and improve efficiency in its data center operation. The Intel® DCM test
deployment was on 100 servers.
The data center staff downloaded Intel® DCM and deployed the intuitive solution
to gain insights into the cooling efficiency and health of their data center. Using
Intel® DCM’s capabilities including cooling analysis, automated server discovery,
thermal health monitoring, and remote access control, data center operators began
to assess the cooling efficiency of their operations and compile reports on their
findings. The added visibility the solution provided allowed them to optimize their
operation safely and efficiently.
Because Intel® DCM turns servers into sensors, EXTREME-D avoided purchasing
expensive Power Distribution Unit (PDU) hardware. In the initial 100-server
deployment, the cost savings would be $5,600 USD.
Intel® DCM’s granular visibility allowed data center staff to safely raise
temperatures in the server room a total of 3°C while continuously monitoring
server health. Factoring in the 100-server subset, the calculated annual savings for
driving temperatures higher would be $2,270 USD.
Case Study | Intel® DCM Optimizes Cooling and Uptime with Virtual Console for Server Group Management
Figure 1. Intel® Data Center Manager Console
Intel® DCM allowed EXTREME-D to improve the Service Level
Agreement (SLA) of their operation by providing automated
alerts, server location mapping, and diagnostic features to
reduce downtime an average of two hours per event ($40
per hour). By lowering the MTTR, Intel® DCM would save the
company $960 USD annually for this deployment.
Intel® DCM offers a cross-platform KVM (virtual keyboard-
video-mouse) solution to troubleshoot, diagnose server
issues, and remote control them too. This eliminates the need
for expensive hardware KVM devices, saving the company an
additional $6,250 USD.
Finally, Intel® DCM’s remote access and patented group policy
control features allowed the company to perform a batch
firmware update for their Intel® DCB servers, thus eliminating
manual processes and yielding the company an annual
savings of $125,000 USD.
Deploying Intel® DCM on the company’s 100 Intel® DCB Proof
of Concept (POC) would yield XTREME-D an annual savings of
$140,080 USD.
Background XTREME-D installed Intel® DCM in its high-performance
server data center operation to monitor the power
consumption and thermal levels of its devices. The data
center staff wanted to reduce overhead margins and improve
server health and operational
Read the full Cloud Data Center
XTREME-D Intel® DCM Optimizes Cooling
and Uptime with Virtual Console
Case Study.